If war were financed the way that many governments propose to fund climate adaptation, we would have eternal peace on Earth. It is high time to revise our priorities. If melting glaciers, rising oceans, failing harvests and raging storms portend growing upheavals that could shake the foundations of human society, then is it too much to ask that climate challenges be treated with at least the same degree of seriousness as the toys sought by the boys?

Nicholas Stern and Todd Stern are prominent voices in the climate debate. But Nick’s warnings are growing more insistent, while Todd–reflecting U.S. political realities–appears to downplay expectations about the outcome of the December Copenhagen conference. We can’t have it both ways, and the planet will have the last word. Will it be stern with us?